The Bayat band will be paying a homage to late Babak Bayat at this year’s Fajr Music Festival by performing a piece written for the occasion. The band is consisted of his son Bamdad Bayat, Mohammad Zandevakili and Babak Riahipor, among others.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
One-girl band?
Dido, one of the best selling female artists in the history of British music, has just released her brand new album. There is not much surprise embedded in the music, as expected! When it comes to aesthetic presentation, however, there is a huge surprise in your face! And that is the image used for the cover, which goes against the consensus of the genre. According to the tradition, when a solo female vocalist of this style and calibre releases an album, people expect to see the artist in rather artistic (or pretentious, if you like to call it) poses being portrayed on the cover. Especially if she is beautiful, which Dido happens to be! Something which has been utilised and adhered to in all her previous albums! The new album however, entitled “Safe Trip Home”, has neglected the tradition, the commercial expectation and instead focused on the poetic concept of the music per se! The result is an album cover more appropriate for- and expected from a “band”! Yes, not even a male solo artist, but only a band! It is the kind of cover one finds on the albums by POP and ROCK bands, without any glimpse of the members of the band. Conventionally such design signals “band”, just focusing on the concept. Not an album by a female singer/songwriter! The decision is rather interesting and makes one wonder why Dido has decided to shift focus from her attractive artistic persona to the music and thereby risk losing a big portion of her commercial appeal (is it to provoke reconsideration regarding genus in the industry or merely an artistic statement?), but most importantly HOW she has managed to convince the record company to let her get away with that!
Modiri and Darkoob’s concert gets stopped!
The multi-talented Mehran Modiri who is currently fronting the Darkoob band and had a successful performance at the Aids Day gala, has been denied a permit for a concert in the same concert hall! It should be mentioned that the Darkoob band have in the past year faced many last minute rejections by the ministry and location owners.
No more a Black Cat!
Schubert Avakian needs no presentation. What I really like and respect about Schubert is his “janbeh” and professional attitude! He has a very constructive way of meeting critique. Something which is really rare in the Iranian industry!
In the past six years Schubert has been a creative member of Black Cats, working hard on HITS like “Joone Khodet (Khanoom Kojaa)”. But as of today he is changing path! Now usually when such separations occur rumours start to spread rampantly, mainly indicating a hostile break-up! Schubert wants to assure us that it is not the case here! He still considers Shahbal as a good friend and respects him as an artist, however time has come to move on in different artistic direction. He is working hard with all the artists he has created for and will be directing music for their future live shows.
Sepideh’s Surprise!
Sepideh is back with new material from her forthcoming album, to be released on Avang. The first song is some kind of surprise for old-school music fans! You’ll know once you hear it!
Arrangers: ARIAN never applied for permit!
Kambiz Roshanravan once again stated in a press conference that its only a rumour that the ARIAN and Hamid Askari haven’t received permits for performance in the Fajr Music Festival while the truth is that the ARIAN have never even applied for one! Hamid Askari too rejected the rumour in an own press conference, saying that he is glad that the festival is giving the less known bands the same exposure that he received last year and an opportunity to make themselves heard.
http://www.bia2.com/review/kamyar.jpg
I wasn’t really pleased with Kamyar’s addition to Black Cats and called it a “Cadillac pulling a chariot“ in my review! It was simply too strong for the old brand of POP which Black Cats delivered. Furthermore I also said “Kamyar is a strong SOUL/JAZZ voice that just screams to unfold wings and break free from the small cage of a commercial TEEN-POP band (and most likely will so in near feature)”! And as you have seen on the Bia2 main page the prediction has became reality! Kamyar or Kamy R, the stage name he has chosen to go by, has kicked off his solo career with a song called “Ye Boos Bede” and even though I had my doubts and fears prior to hearing it, I must say that Kamyar has come through with flying colours! He has managed to avoid the generic Persian POP of LA which basically fails in terms of compatibility with his voice and instead create an own funky flavour which though staying true to the spirit of Persian POP flirts freely with the preferred non-Iranian genres of the vocalist! The result is incredibly balanced in production and presentation, something which makes me anticipate his solo debut album already! Hopefully he keeps up the thought-though work of his.
Yazdani: I wanna go international!
Reza Yazdani who has in recent years become “the” soundtrack maker of Masood Kimiaei’s works and is also contemplating a career as an actor, recently told Kargozaran that his ultimate ambition is to become internationally known! He believes that he has got what it takes and is eagerly waiting for the permit to release his 4th album featuring a possible collaboration with SANTANA. Yazdani also opposed the domestic UNDERGROUND movement, its RAP branch in particular, for having spoiled the Iranian music scene and people’s preferences!
New Releases: Tara & Khashayar Azar
Tara’s third album has been released months after being leaked on the internet. “The Gift” comes with a nice album cover and is released on Century Records.
Shahram Azar’s son, Khashayar whom we have previously seen and heard in SANDY, is releasing his solo debut “Bargard” next week. I have urged this solo career in my review on SANDY’s latest, so it will be interesting to hear the result!
http://www.centuryrecordsusa.com/
This year’s Fajr Festival belongs to the independent acts
A few days ago when the list of the 12 POP-performers of the upcoming Fajr Music Festival was announced, the press started speculating that the absence of big names such as the ARIAN and Hamid Askari, who last year won a permit for a whole year of concerts, is due to them being deliberately denied permits this year! According to the arrangers, however, this year’s POP division is dedicated to the more independent acts and unknown bands from the countryside!
Erwin and his Civil Servants
In the Iranian market Erwin Khachikian is perhaps better known for his arrangements in Siavash Ghomayshi’s albums “Neghaab” and “Bisarzamintar az Baad”. He has also worked with Habib, Mansour and Martik on their recent albums. In the international market, however, Erwin is better known as the keyboardist in Serj Tankian’s (System of a Down) touring band the FCC (Flying Cunts of Chaos) and he has spent the last two years on the roads, performing around the globe. While on the road he has also worked on a solo project called “Karmandan” and as a friend I have had the privilege and pleasure to follow the process and hearing the material from the early start. What I personally like about Erwin’s Karmandan is the -for the Iranian industry- unconventional and clever lyrical themes and the alternative fusion of ROCK and POP.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Bijan Mortazavi arrested in Tehran?!
Several questionable websites and blogs have announced that Bijan Mortazavi has been arrested after arriving to the Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran! This however, has been rejected by government officials who claim that Bijan Mortazavi has, as a matter of fact, visited the country recently however already left Iran without any complication and not returned since then! This announcement confirms the rumour that Bijan Mortazavi has been visiting Iran, however it doesn’t confirm whether he has been pursuing a singing permit, like the rumour had, or not!
Thanks to Mansour J.
UNICEF gala without its promised hosts!
The four day concert of the four artists, in affiliation with UNICEF for the Aids Day has kicked off and become a huge success! Mehran Modiri preformed with the Darkoob band and Ali Reza Assar expressed his happiness to once gain share a stage with his reconciled partner Foad Hejazi. The only change in the program was the exclusion of Niki Karimi and Mohammad Reza Forootan, which was blamed on the tight schedule and lack of time. Rumour has, however, that the absence is due to both disagreement and prior engagements elsewhere!
Judged By the Cover
For someone (like yours-truly) who is interested in and attends to fine arts, the music and the aesthetic presentation of it has always gone hand in hand. The design and packaging is the final knot that ties up a nice ribbon around a package, in this case the album. I can honestly say that when it comes to the factor which makes me decide whether I should buy an album or not, the artwork and packaging has more to say than the music itself! Needless to say there have been times when I’ve bought an album just for the art and packaging itself, sometimes without even knowing what kind of music it contains! I guess you can say that in a way I judge an album by its cover! And I do believe, especially in these days of industry depression, that an elaborate design and clever packaging is what makes people actually pay hard-earned cash to buy a hard copy album instead of downloading it digitally. Therefore I intend to start a new line of posts in this blog, in which I intend to bring up and discuss design and packaging of music albums. Starting with a little comparative consideration of two rather new album covers which have some common denominators.
http://www.bia2.com/review/pcd.jpg
http://www.bia2.com/review/gls.jpg
First is them being albums by girlbands and the second is that they both have the same production team behind them. However despite all the resemblances they have nothing in common when it comes to aesthetic presentation of the album! I have previously stressed the importance of elements and factors that should be taken into consideration, in particular when designing covers for female artists. While the art direction in Pussycat Dolls’ case has been executed correctly, with their image and music in mind the design of Girlicious’ debut has neglected basically every rule of the trade! Most critically it has been executed so badly that it looks more like a “Paint” work rather than a result made in a professional program. Nothing is correct in this image, neither the quality nor composition! Look at the lettering for instance, or the colour chart used. It doesn’t just look amateurish, it IS amateurish! And the final outcome would be that the former does a much more effective job to market its product than the latter, which puts the buyer off! Even though the music of the latter is much, much better than the former!
Assar’s new album re-announced
Ali Reza Assar and Foad Hejazi’s post-reconciliation album was due out two years ago, as you read in “Reviewer’s Randoms” back then. The album was however postponed another two years and is according to Assar’s manager finally due out in time for the UNICEF gala for the Aids Day.
Esfehani to be Sadeghi’s guest
Its been confirmed that Mohammad Esfehani will appear on Reza Sadeghi’s upcoming third album “Cheghadr Sakhte” as a guest vocalist! The 12 track album will be featuring compositions by Sadeghi himself and lyrics by Maryam Zanganeh and Ashkan Rahimi.
De Burgh’s concert postponed indefinitely!
And finally the management of Taraneye Sharghi dares to admit what the authorities have been claiming all along, that there will be no Chris de Burgh concert! The concert has been postponed indefinitely and as you have been reading in this blog before the reason for this is most likely the alleged link between the artist and the MKO organisation! However Ershaad has so far claimed that they have never rejected any application, since de Burgh has never made any!
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